Market Your Business For $0.00
No budget? No problem! Here's how you can market your business for free.
Manuel Velazquez
3/24/20263 min read
Times are tough. Costs keep going up. Everything is getting squeezed tighter. But you still have a business to run. So how can you afford to market it without spending money you don't have? Here's 5 simple tips you can put into action today and start reaching customers.
Google Business Profile - A Google search is the most likely way a new customer will find your business. Without a complete profile, your business is virtually invisible. The great thing about this marketing tool is not only does it take just a few minutes to set-up, but it's completely free. Customers will be able to see your business address, hours, website, phone & e-mail contact and read and leave reviews.
Social Media Accounts - Like your GBP, these tools are also free and raise visibility for your business. They do require more time and effort, but if you make it a point to post regularly, you can quickly build a following with your target audience. The content you post to one account can be cross posted and shared to others, which maximizes effectiveness without being too intensive. You can also interact with followers and forge a community and connection to your brand. The interactive nature of social media allows you to tell your story as a business owner and build an identity for your brand. While there's dozens of platforms available, you can focus your efforts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads to start, allowing you to post texts, photos, videos and reels. As your following grows, you can advertise specials, announce new products and highlight your best sellers.
Community Pages & Groups - Platforms like Facebook and Nextdoor create opportunities for your business to reach members of your community directly. Joining neighborhood groups on those pages can not only raise the visibility of your business' profile, but create opportunities to build trust with the community. The best practice is to post and interact frequently, and to ask and answer questions without engaging in self-promotion. Spamming advertisements for your business will actually undermine the community's trust in your business and could get your profile banned from some groups. But consistent genuine engagement will shape the perception of your business and foster a positive connection to your brand in the eyes of members of the community.
Business Networking Groups - Meeting and connecting with other business owners in your area is a great strategy in general. It also creates an opportunity to expand your network while simultaneously marketing your business. There's a possibility that your business provides something that other business owners and employees in attendance will want or need. And if they don't, they likely know someone who does. Referrals are incredibly valuable to any type of business and networking groups are a great place to generate them. Like social media and community groups, networking also provides a unique opportunity to present the identity of your brand, transforming it from just a name into a actual person who can be trusted.
Give The Best Customer Service Possible - The best marketing tool any business has is their customer service. Customers will prefer a mediocre product or service if it comes with great customer service over an excellent product that came with a bad experience. Think about how many times you keep going back to a business that didn't have the best version of what you were buying because you really liked how you were treated. Great customer service is so powerful. It's so important to make sure that you're taking good care of your customers, getting to know them, understanding what they need and making sure you meet and exceed their expectations. But don't just stop there. Always ask your customers to leave you reviews. When people search your business on Google, they will judge it based on your star rating. If you receive a negative review, don't look at it as an attack on your business. See it as an opportunity. Find out why that customer was unhappy. Learn what you can do differently. And most importantly, respond. Be positive and professional. Apologize for what happen, ask for more details and offer to make it right. Even if the unhappy customer is being unfair or is mistaken, other customers will see that you genuinely care and want to help fix the issue. Their impression of the negative review will be shaped more by your response than the complaint itself. And this will help you potentially build more trust than if you had a perfect 5 star rating.